Documentary photography

Ed Sutton

Ed Sutton

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Dave
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No
There's more to photography than taking 'stunning' pictures to impress other photographers. That's so camera club. Yawn.... :D

Would anyone else welcome a section on TP for members to post projects of a documentary nature?

For me photography is about documenting the world, telling stories, making statements. There must be others here who feel the same. :thinking:
 
I welcome the idea in principle, although its quite easy to call a photograph 'documentary', just as it is very easy to call a photograph 'Street'. Ive been following the Merfolk thread with real interest, so I understand why the suggestion has been made, but isnt there already a personal projects section? maybe Davids project should have been put there instead of in the general crtique section.
 
I don't think we see enough of them yet to justify a whole section. For the moment there are probably enough categories to find a reasonable place to post your project work (there is even a projects sections, although admittedly dominated by 365 and 52 projects at the moment).

That's not to say I don't like looking at them! I love a good documentary and the storytelling style of photography appeals to me. Just not sure a separate section would see enough traffic to warrant it's existence atm.

Edit: Mind you. It might be self fulfilling. If enough people see the new section it might inspire them to go out and try something similar..... hmmm.
 
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52s and 365s aren't projects to my way of thinking - they're exercises. Like doing a one lens project is an exercise. A project like Merfolk would be out of place in that section.

As for the range of other sections, well I can't find anywhere to post any of my stuff. That's why I've posted a couple of projects of mine in the Creative section - even though I see them as documentary projects.
 
Ed Sutton said:
As for the range of other sections, well I can't find anywhere to post any of my stuff. That's why I've posted a couple of projects of mine in the Creative section - even though I see them as documentary projects.
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I think most of my stuff ends up in the "creative" section for just the same reason - though to be honest I'd love to see that section re-named to something less imbued with an assertion that all the other sections are for stuff that isn't creative...

To be honest though it's probably about there being enough content to justify the areas existance... like it or not, it's easier / less time consuming to get a single image of "a bird on a stick" or a spooky still life, or a Sunset over Durdle Door, or some orange sprayed model with their baps out (other TP Photographic cliche genres are available... insert your "favourites" here) than it is to produce a body of work like Davids "Branch" for example... so, getting enough throughput to justify a dedicated area is going to be a bit tough...
 
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Rich_Ellis said:
There's documentary and there's documentary. It would just end up with loads of pictures of old ladies pulling shopping trolleys and poor foreign people with craggy faces...
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:LOL::LOL:

It's a nice idea.

I'd click a 'documentary' thread if the 'title' interested me however I might not bother if it didn't.

I'd probably miss loads of photographs I might otherwise have enjoyed if they'd posted in other forums.
 
TheBigYin said:
I think most of my stuff ends up in the "creative" section for just the same reason - though to be honest I'd love to see that section re-named to something less imbued with an assertion that all the other sections are for stuff that isn't creative...
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Renaming the 'creative' section might be the way forward.

dinners said:
I'd probably miss loads of photographs I might otherwise have enjoyed if they'd posted in other forums.
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I probably miss stuff because it's been posted in the other forums I hardly ever look at.:D
 
Ed Sutton said:
I probably miss stuff because it's been posted in the other forums I hardly ever look at.:D
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I'm sure there's people in the Transport section for example who'd have enjoyed David's Branch thread but would never have spotted it in the People and Portraits for example...
 
TheBigYin said:
I'm sure there's people in the Transport section for example who'd have enjoyed David's Branch thread but would never have spotted it in the People and Portraits for example...
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Yup. The more themed threads, the more people miss.

I like the idea in principle but think it's taking it a bit too far. All of the other threads are quite specific in terms of subject, whereas documentary is a way of shooting.
 
TheBigYin said:
I'm sure there's people in the Transport section for example who'd have enjoyed David's Branch thread but would never have spotted it in the People and Portraits for example...
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Yep on that note I think it would be good if the recent posts section on the homepage was expanded to havr 15-20 topics in it.

I only spotted the Branch thread in that and would have prob missed it otherwise
 
mjScall said:
Yep on that note I think it would be good if the recent posts section on the homepage was expanded to havr 15-20 topics in it.

I only spotted the Branch thread in that and would have prob missed it otherwise
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That's a good point. The only time I really comment on threads outside the "bug" section is when something caught my eye on the home page. More threads here please!
 
Funny how everyone has their own ways of looking at TP. I rarely look at the home page entering via the Forums page.
 
I very rarely go into any of the the subforums. I always click to look at the new posts list, and look at whatever takes my fancy from that.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Funny how everyone has their own ways of looking at TP. I rarely look at the home page entering via the Forums page.
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I check in at the staff room before my breakfast and see who's been throwing their teddies out of the pram, then if there's time before bed I go have a look in Film and Conventional...
 
TheBigYin said:
I check in at the staff room before my breakfast and see who's been throwing their teddies out of the pram, then if there's time before bed I go have a look in Film and Conventional...
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I used to be involved in running a forum. The prima donnas can be a PITA! :D
 
Nikon_Nick said:
I welcome the idea in principle, although its quite easy to call a photograph 'documentary', just as it is very easy to call a photograph 'Street'. Ive been following the Merfolk thread with real interest, so I understand why the suggestion has been made, but isnt there already a personal projects section? maybe Davids project should have been put there instead of in the general crtique section.
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I think to qualify.... we're talking about "projects" here. Single images would not qualify. I fail to see how you could take one image and say it's a "documentary". The image may well document something, but to be a serious attempt at documentary, you really should be studying your subject over time, and giving more than a single viewpoint from one image.

The projects section as it stands, is just for 52s, 365s etc.. they're just collections of random images. It's not documentary. If there are any in there.... they're a massive minority as I've not seen any.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
I think to qualify.... we're talking about "projects" here. Single images would not qualify. I fail to see how you could take one image and say it's a "documentary". The image may well document something, but to be a serious attempt at documentary, you really should be studying your subject over time, and giving more than a single viewpoint from one image.

The projects section as it stands, is just for 52s, 365s etc.. they're just collections of random images. It's not documentary. If there are any in there.... they're a massive minority as I've not seen any.
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You are correct of course. Perhaps I should have said it would be easy to call a photograph documentary in style. Someone could easily post a selection of shots in the documentary 'style', without it actually being part of a larger project, which is of course not what we want to see in there, if someone is labelling it specifically as a documentary.
 
simon ess said:
Why not just put "Documentary Series", or similar, in the title?
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I suppose that may work. I have no idea why there can't be a section for it though. After all, if we can have that ridiculous glamour section that is essentially outdated, insulting and objectifying soft porn that most intelligent people would find objectionable, then I don't see why we can't have a documentary section for more serious series of work, or project based work.
 
Ed Sutton said:
52s and 365s aren't projects to my way of thinking - they're exercises. Like doing a one lens project is an exercise. A project like Merfolk would be out of place in that section.

As for the range of other sections, well I can't find anywhere to post any of my stuff. That's why I've posted a couple of projects of mine in the Creative section - even though I see them as documentary projects.
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I agree, perhaps the 52's and 365's aren't specifically projects, but then to give that part of the forum its full title its Projects and Themes Dave.
I would say certainly the 52's fall under the latter part of the title.

I would suggest rather than a whole new sub forum, that the Project and Themes forum is split into the two separate parts.
I will admit I do have a vested interest in this as my own particular project is within that part of the forum and can get a little lost at times due to the sheer weight of the amount of 52 and 365 threads.
Perhaps by splitting the main part into two, they could run alongside one another quite happily.

I am still undecided as to exactly where my project would sit. Could it be classed as documentary? I am not sure. By reading your views on it in the OP Dave @Ed Sutton about documenting the world and telling stories, I would like to think it fills the criteria.

An interesting thread topic all the same, food for thought.
 
blakester said:
I agree, perhaps the 52's and 365's aren't specifically projects, but then to give that part of the forum its full title its Projects and Themes Dave.
I would say certainly the 52's fall under the latter part of the title.

I would suggest rather than a whole new sub forum, that the Project and Themes forum is split into the two separate parts.
I will admit I do have a vested interest in this as my own particular project is within that part of the forum and can get a little lost at times due to the sheer weight of the amount of 52 and 365 threads.
Perhaps by splitting the main part into two, they could run alongside one another quite happily.

I am still undecided as to exactly where my project would sit. Could it be classed as documentary? I am not sure. By reading your views on it in the OP Dave @Ed Sutton about documenting the world and telling stories, I would like to think it fills the criteria.

An interesting thread topic all the same, food for thought.
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That idea occurred to me. Documentary can be a bit of a loaded term but it's the best I can think of.:thinking:
 
Ed Sutton said:
That idea occurred to me. Documentary can be a bit of a loaded term but it's the best I can think of.:thinking:
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Not wishing to 'dilute' it down Dave, documentary is the correct term for it I think too but I could foresee some 'discussions' occurring where there would be a difference of opinions as to exactly what does or doesn't constitute documentary.
A little along the lines of what Nick @Nikon_Nick mentioned above about street photography. I think for a wider audience it would perhaps be more apt to call them projects.
 
Branch thread ??

Merfolk thread ??

how much of this forum that you aren't interested in do you have to read to become acquainted with branch and merfolk threads
 
blakester said:
Not wishing to 'dilute' it down Dave, documentary is the correct term for it I think too but I could foresee some 'discussions' occurring where there would be a difference of opinions as to exactly what does or doesn't constitute documentary.
I think for a wider audience it would perhaps be more apt to call them projects.
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I agree that documentary can be open to a a broad range of interpretations. It might be hard for some to see how something like my Englishman's Home project might be considered documentary, but I think it is.

Perhaps 'Personal Projects' would be appropriate? What I'm thinking of is stuff which is self-motivated and directed but of a generally documentary nature.
 
joxby said:
Branch thread ??

Merfolk thread ??

how much of this forum that you aren't interested in do you have to read to become acquainted with branch and merfolk threads
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I only found them by accident. I don't usually look in the People forum. Just like I don't look in most of the sections on a regular basis.
 
new posts......if it doesn't catch my eye in new posts, its a gonner

I don't look in any of the digi photo sections really
 
I would like to see a personal projects sub forum too...
I think much like Dave @Ed Sutton, I attempt the odd type of project, but have no clue where to put it... so don't bother.

I only happened to find the Merfolk/Branch threads because of the images that show up on the home page when I log in, I wouldn't have thought to look in 'people and portraits, as to me they don't fit in there.
That in itself seems a flaw in the system really... so many threads going unseen because they are not in places you'd think they'd be.
 
Ed Sutton said:
I agree that documentary can be open to a a broad range of interpretations. It might be hard for some to see how something like my Englishman's Home project might be considered documentary, but I think it is.

Perhaps 'Personal Projects' would be appropriate? What I'm thinking of is stuff which is self-motivated and directed but of a generally documentary nature.
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Personal projects would certainly cover it, then i think the other half of that forum could be for the themed 52's etc.
 
joxby said:
Branch thread ??

Merfolk thread ??

how much of this forum that you aren't interested in do you have to read to become acquainted with branch and merfolk threads
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try here and here John...

they are actually quite interesting (at least the initial posts, before the usual suspects weigh in with their usual "arty farty load of old cobblers" philistine routine...)
 
Warning to mods... this post contains LOGIC


;)


I think we getting too bogged down into Documentary. I think somewhere for longer term projects is probably a good idea though, as they tend to be big, need to be regularly updated perhaps, and can become somewhere that work can be developed over time.

The thing is... we have one really though... Projects and Themes. The problem is... no one who is interested in seeing documentary or long term projects thinks of looking in there as it is literally just full of 52s.

The problem with the way forums are set up, is that they are set up in a very literal, camera club type way... it has a person in it... it goes in People & Portraits... it has a car in it... Transport... it has a bird in it... Wildlife... etc. The problem then is... lets say for argument's sake, someone did a brilliant documentary or long term study of people who restore classic cars... where does it go? Transport? People? Projects and Themes? It can't go everywhere.... but just because it may have some cars in it, doesn't mean the crowd who currently read transport will appreciate it, and because it wasn't really about cars, those that would have appreciated seeing it, probably never did.

A solution would be to just rename the current Projects and Themes to "365s, 52s etc".. because that's all that's in there.... literally... there is nothing else in there. Then create a new one called Projects and Themes. Effectively, you've actually created a new forum for 365s and 52s, and removed everything from Projects and Themes into the new, now correctly named forum, leaving projects and themes empty for projects and themes. Then from then on, if anyone posts a 52 thread in it, mods can move it to the 52 folder.

Then anyone with an existing project based thread can request to have it moved into Projects and Themes. It won't be long before it fills up if existing threads are moved into it. Anyone who wants to post a new thread, can now put it where it should be... Projects and Themes... without fear of no one reading it because it's full of threads by people who need an excuse to pick up a camera once a week.

It makes perfect sense.

To Mods:
You know what happens when art based, or documentary based work gets mixed up with the camera club stuff... it just breaks out into an argument. This will solve the problem.
 
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